On the 11th of June in 1488, two armies meet in battle at Sauchieburn, near Stirling. One fights for King James the Third of Scotland, the other is loyal to his eldest son, Prince James, Duke of Rothesay. Soon, James the Third is dead, murdered as he flees the field. His army is routed. Among the dead is Sir Thomas Sempill of Ellestoun, Sheriff of Renfrew, whose son and heir, John, escapes with his life. Once John's career as knight and courtier seemed assured. But with the death of his king, his situation is fragile. He's the only surviving son of the Sempill line and he's unmarried. If he hopes to survive, John must try and win favour with the new king. And deal with the ruthless and powerful Lord Montgomerie. . .

Characters:

The characters are the strongest part of this book. John Sempill is painted as human, almost a saint I believe, for he's caring, giving, talented and obstinate in relationships, although he is a bit naive and kind of does have a wandering eye. Margaret Colville is his wife. At first, due to some beliefs, she's very rude, angry and scornful towards John Sempill, but as time marches on, she becomes a likable heroine. John's mistress, Mary, is a widow who is older than John and who seems to have a deep understanding of men and their desires. Hugh, from what I understood, is quick tempered and ambitious at the cost of those who would remain loyal to him.

Theme:

Don't underestimate or overestimate people

Plot:

The book is written in third person narrative from John Sempill's point of view as well as Margaret Colville and Hugh. Along with those there is also John's mistress, Mary, I think. I feel that a lot of research was done towards the story and the book and there is knowledge and expertise. The strong point of the book include the characters who are memorable and aren't forgettable. I also liked the small details that the author includes such as clothing and expenditures as well as how shortages were handled.

Author Information:
(From Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tour)

Born in Glasgow, Louise Turner spent her early years in the west of Scotland where she attended the University of Glasgow. After graduating with an MA in Archaeology, she went on to complete a PhD on the Bronze Age metalwork hoards of Essex and Kent. She has since enjoyed a varied career in archaeology and cultural resource management. Writing has always been a major aspect of her life and in 1988, she won the Glasgow Herald/Albacon New Writing in SF competition with her short story Busman’s Holiday. Louise lives with her husband in west Renfrewshire.

Author Links

I don't know much or at all about Scottish history, besides the fact that England took over Scotland and that the men wear kilts, thus it was an interesting read and very richly detailed, although I had some trouble and frustration because I read the digital version of it. Right away, the author warns the reader that different characters have the same names, and while she does provide a character sheet in beginning, I kind of found it annoying to be doing more motions just to check who's who, and some of the characters are indeed confusing by names. I think I also had some trouble figuring out what's going on in the story, besides the fact that John Sempill's father has passed away and now he has to figure out who the enemies and others are. I guess I had some difficulty figuring out the political maneuvering.

London 1788. The calm order of Queen Charlotte’s court is shattered by screams. The King of England is going mad. Left alone with thirteen children and with the country at war, Charlotte has to fight to hold her husband’s throne. It is a time of unrest and revolutions but most of all Charlotte fears the King himself, someone she can no longer love or trust. She has lost her marriage to madness and there is nothing she can do except continue to do her royal duty.

Her six daughters are desperate to escape their palace asylum. Their only chance lies in a good marriage, but no prince wants the daughter of a madman. They are forced to take love wherever they can find it, with devastating consequences.

The moving true story of George III’s madness and the women whose lives it destroyed.

Characters:

There are a lot of characters, but the important ones include Charlotte, wife of George III who has to deal with the fact her husband isn't himself anymore as well as trying to keep her daughters with her instead of allowing them to build their own lives. She is a very strong and bitter woman. There is also Royal who tries her best to be sensitive to both her mother and father at the cost of her own desires and happiness, and there is Sophia who is impetuous and also has to make a big sacrifice when it comes to her family. She is not as sensitive as Royal, but like Royal, she also resents the way their family is and how limited they are when it comes to everything. Some minor characters include George III who has episodes of sanity and madness as well as his sons, the heir who has to make sacrifices of his own as well as Ernest who unknowingly helps his sister commit a dangerous act and also Garth who presents a choice to Sophia.

Theme:

Each choice has a sacrifice

Plot:

The book is written in third person narrative, in beginning from Charlotte and Royal's points of views, and then Sophia was added in. I did feel that Sophia was added in a little late, but other than that, a very strong book of mental illness and its effects on the royal family. The author does kind of warn when a point of view change will be occurring. The book also goes in chronological order, from 1788 up until 1818? when Charlotte passes away?

Author Information:
(From Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tour)

Laura Purcell lives in Colchester, the oldest recorded town in England. She met her husband working in Waterstones bookshop and they share their home with several pet guinea pigs.

Laura is a member of the Historical Novel Society, The Society for Court Studies and Historic Royal Palaces. She has recently appeared on the PBS documentary The Secrets of Henry VIII’s Palace, talking about Queen Caroline’s life at Hampton Court.

Laura’s novels explore the lives of royal women during the Georgian era, who have largely been ignored by modern history. Her debut Queen Charlotte was originally self-published as God Save the King, receiving excellent reviews as an Amazon bestseller in biographical fiction.

Beyond the episode with American Colonies, I didn't know anything King George III. I only knew that he is considered a mad king and that's it. I also doubt that many people have asked how has madness affected his family? His wife and daughters in particular? This book answers that question as well as shows what its like to be married to someone who is thought of as insane as well as being in spotlight all the time. I have really developed pity for the characters and amazement at their fortitude and survival during those times. The most amazing part of the book is characterization and how I understood why they changed the way they did.

"Just as we hoped to honor our mother's essential goodness, cheerfulness, and optimism by writing this book, we hope that every reader can find comfort and meaning through honoring the memory and values, and the positive, never-ending influence, of one no longer there." (6)

Author Information:

Meryl Ain holds a BA from QueensCollege,
a MA from ColumbiaUniversityTeachers
College, and an Ed.D. from HofstraUniversity.
She began her career in education as a social studies teacher before she became
an administrator. She is also a freelance writer specializing in issues related
to education, families, parenting, and children and has contributed to Huffington
Post, Newsday, the New York Jewish Week and TheNew York
Times. She embarked on The Living Memories Project after she lost
both her father and mother within a year-and-a-half. She and her husband
Stewart live on Long Island and have three
sons, three daughters-in-law and three grandchildren.

Arthur M. Fischman holds a BA
from QueensCollege and a JD from TempleLawSchool. He is a freelance
writer whose video and interactive scripts have won numerous awards, including
a Telly, an ITVA Silver Award, and a New York Festivals Bronze World Medal. He
co-wrote the award-winning documentary Digital Dharma and
has written radio, TV, and print ads for leading consumer product
manufacturers. Arthur is a veteran speechwriter and ghostwriter, and
was director of executive communications and internal communications for a
Fortune 500 company. He, his wife, and their two daughters live in Philadelphia, where he
also writes plays and moonlights as a jazz
pianist.

Stewart Ain is a graduate of CW
Post College and holds a MA from the Columbia University Graduate School of
Journalism. He is an award-winning journalist with more than 40 years of
experience, and was a Pulitzer Prize nominee three times. He has reported for The
New York Times, New York
Daily News, New York
Jewish Week, Long Island Business News and
Lifestyles Magazine. Stewart frequently appears on television and radio,
and hosts his own weekly cable TV program, Jewish Life, and has
been a regular guest on The Leon Charney Show. Both his
parents died while he was working on The Living Memories Project.

1. Death is Not Fatal

Author: Malachy McCourt

Message:

Written in first person narrative, he shares his views on spirituality and what might possibly happen, as well as bits and pieces of what he went through in childhood.

2. Music and Social Justice

Author: Jen Chapin

Message:

She reminisces and talks about the influence her family and her father had on her, as well as they inspired her to volunteer and open up WhyHunger and Long Island Cares.

3. Construcitve Revenge

Author: Robert Meeropol

Message:

Robert is the son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and he talks about a dream he had of starting the foundation to honor his parents, Rosenberg Fund for Children, which he does as well as what his foundation does.

4. The Comfort of Memory Quilts

Author: Eileen Belmont

Message:

Eileen recounts various projects she has done for her clients when it comes to memory quilts as well as special meanings that the objects have towards people.

5. "The Funniest Woman You've Never Heard Of"

Author: Gary Toll

Message:

Gary recounts memories he has of his sister Judy Toll and how much she has meant to him.

6. Appreciating Our Troops

Author: Wolfer Family

Message:

Written in second person narrative, the family recounts how their son Stuart has passed away and how they have started a foundation named MSAWI to honor him and to help others.

7. Work, Altruism, Spirituality

Author: Liz and Steve Alderman

Message:

Liz and Steve's son Peter Alderman passed away during 9/11 and to honor him, the family set up a foundation named Peter C. Alderman which helps people who experienced terrorism get their lives back.

8. Keeping Memories Fresh and Green

Author: Nick Clooney

Message:

Nick Clooney reflects on how his two sisters, Rosemary and Betty have influenced him in life as well as how talented they were.

9. The Sock Puppet that Launched a Career

Author: Ronn Lucas

Message:

Ronn recalls how his grandfather influenced him to become a ventriloquist by using a sock puppet when he was a child.

10. "The Rock of Our Family"

Author: Jeannette Martinez

Message:

When her daughter Jessica was born with a Down Syndrome, she mourned dreams that wouldn't be materialized, but thanks to her mother G-d rest her soul, she got courage to continue on with life.

11. "Always with Us, Watching Over My Children"

Author: Maryann Stech

Message:

Maryann recalls the influence her mother, Rose McDonnell had on her as well as how she influenced the children.

12. 5:20 AM

Author: Andre De Shields

Message:

Andre recalls a lover of his, John and the significance of 5:20 AM in his life.

13. Mother and Best Friend

Author: Lynda Johnson Robb

Message:

She is the daughter of Lyndon Baines Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson. She briefly recalls the things she does to keep the mother with her.

14. The Language of Music

Author: Dr. Yeou-Cheng Ma

Message:

She is the sister of Yo-yo Ma and she recalls the influence her father had on her and her brother as well as the story of her mentor while she was studying to become a doctor. She encourages people to take time when mourning as well as think about what the loved one wants.

15. "The aim of life is to live"

Author: Ellen Gould

Message:

She recalls the deaths that her siblings and her grandparents had on her as well as how it helped to be writing Bubbe Meises, and how she eventually made peace.

16. A Poem, A Daisy, a Wedding Ring

Author: Jillian Levine

Message:

In order to recall her mother and the impact she had on her, Jillian shares how she incorporated some of her mom's favorite things in her wedding.

17. Inspiring a Life in Song

Author: Tonia Tecce

Message:

Tonia recalls her parents and some memories of the time she was a child with her sister. She also, at the age of forty, decided to make some of her dreams come true. "I celebrate my parents' lives by trying to emulate the goodness that they taught us." (91)

18. A Living Memorial to Victims of Holocaust

Author: Boris Chartan

Message:

Boris recalls what happened when the Nazis came over to where he and his family lived, as well as the help his family received and his life after the arrival to America.

19. Preserving Positive Memories Through Memorial Stones

Author: Susan C. Dessel

Message:

She recalls some stones she created and how she came to create them as well as special significance they hold for her.

20. Harnessing the Power of Grief

Author: Sherri Mandell

Message:

Sherri Mandell's son was brutally murdered and she tells how she kept going on for her children as well as the camp that she created in memory of her son.

21. A Book of Memories

Author: Janine Lavery

Message:

When Janine's father passed away, in order for her daughters to have more fond memories, she makes a memory book with her family and her father in it. She also reflects on how much he influenced her and her family members.

22. Comfort Through Community

Author: Leon Charney

Message:

Leon discusses the meaning of Kaddish and community and how the two intersect with one another and their importance in life.

23. A Search for Closure

Author: Leslie Rizzo

Message:

Leslie's son has passed away due to a condition and in his honor a classmate and a friend arranged for him a scholarship. Leslie meanwhile tries to come to grips on why her son as well as deal with her grief.

24. Hard Work and Laughter

Author: Jack Klugman

Message:

Jack Klugman, who has passed away, reflects on how much Tony Randall has meant to him and what he does in Tony Randall's memory.

25. Keeping Ancestors Alive

Author: Arthur Kurzweil

Message:

Arthur is a genealogy nut who talks about how he got interested in doing genealogy as well as how it brings closure to some people.

26. "A Small Step"

Author: Stan Gadiel

Message:

Stan talks about his friend Chick who passed away from cancer. To honor his friend, he came up with benefits for golf that is best described as blue-collar.

27. A Recipe for Remembering

Author: Florie Wachtenheim

Message:

Florie recalls her mother's influence during Jewish holidays as well as cooking and how the mother is a wonderful woman.

28. The Gift of Unconditional Love

Author: Jodi Kerper

Message:

Jodi's mother Gail has passed away and never got her dreams realized, thus later in life in her honor, she and her husband began to raise money towards Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

29. A Grandmother's Wisdom

Author: Hazel Dukes

Message:

Hazel recalls her grandmother and the values that she passed on to her and her mother as well as how she best remembers her.

30. Honoring the Founders of Jewish Savannah

Author: Marion Abrahams Levy Mandel

Message:

The author relates her personal ancestry through Savanah as well as how her husband and others influenced her to believe in its importance.

31. Reliving TV's Golden Age

Author: Leona Schwartz

Message:

Leona is the daughter of Eli Mintz who is from The Goldbergs, a TV show and she tells how her parents influenced her life as well as what he is really like.

32. Babe Ruth: "The Name is Magic"

Author: Linda Ruth Tosetti

She is Babe Ruth's granddaughter and she recalls how she learned some important family secrets as well as trying to get people to see Babe Ruth's humanitarian work and how he is really like instead of how he is portrayed.

Personal Opinion:

Most of the stories are of the wealthy and those who can afford to make grand gestures to remember their loved ones. I really liked the ordinary people stories, in particular by Jillian Levine is my favorite story. I enjoyed reading all of them as well as gaining interesting perspectives people shared on how to remember their loved ones and so forth.

Joyce Wayne brings to life the complexities of Victorian life, first in County Devon, and then in London’s East End. The big picture is about one woman’s life, class conflict, religious intolerance, suspicion, and betrayal. The central figure is Cordelia, a strong-minded Jewish woman who is caught between her desire to be true to herself and her need to be accepted by English society. The Cook’s Temptation is about a woman who is unpredictable, both strong- and weak-willed, both kind and heinous, victim and criminal. It is a genuine Victorian saga, full of detail, twists and turns, memorable scenes, and full of drama and pathos.

Characters:

Oh goodness, the characters. They're humans, real humans. The main character is Cordelia, a daughter of a Jewess who enjoys cooking and who shared Judaism with her mother. In beginning she is best described as arrogant, but at the same time I had sympathy and understanding for her, to be stuck with people she can't connect or converse on things she wants. (Yeah, been my life a lot...except I didn't look down on them.) Due to her desperation, she marries Frederick Wendice. Frederick was a character I wanted to throttle, castrate and kill. I couldn't stand him at all, not his ignorance, self-righteousness, peculiarities, and his views of Cordelia's faith. Frederick really reminded me of my ex friend, and each time he showed off his ignorance I kept wanting to smack my forehead and tell him that he's an idiot. Unfortunately he's not unique or a character of the past. In fact, those who preach conversion to christianity hold a fragment of his views. I really hope I didn't offend anyone. There are also Frederick's mother who is also despicable, although not as much as her son. She wasn't as memorable as Frederick, sorry to say so, and the manservant Jack who shares Cordelia's ambitions and secret. I suspect that Jack has a lifelong love towards Cordelia.

Theme:

If you listen to something long enough, then you begin to believe it.

Plot:

The book is written in first person narrative completely from Cordelia's point of view. The story is also chronological and it tends to be psychological too. The world is done and written well, and its obvious that the author has done a great deal of research. Also, I have learned some interesting new words such as dollymop (prostitute?) and so forth. The book is a bit focused on cooking, but its not a story of rising to the top, but in fact the great amount of focus goes to typhoid and science versus superstition.

Author Information:
(From Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tour)

Joyce Wayne has an MA in English literature, has taught journalism at Sheridan College, Oakville, Ontario, for twenty-five years, and lives in Toronto, Ontario. She was a winner of the Diaspora Dialogues contest for fiction and the Fiona Mee Award for literary journalism. She is the co writer of the documentary film So Far From Home (2010), a film about refugee journalists persecuted for their political views, and various of her other works have been published in Parchment, Golden Horseshoe Anthology, Canadian Voices, and TOK6.

For more information please visit Joyce Wayne’s website. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads. She is happy to participate in Books Clubs by phone and Skype.

Opinion:

When reading the book, I had mixed feelings about it: not that its good or bad because it was good, but I wasn't sure how to react to Cordelia's world. I can identify a lot with Cordelia, and although there were times I found her off-putting and unlikable. What I was puzzled about is whether or not to laugh at how people thought back then when it came to Jews, yet I didn't want to do it, and much of it remained among the ignorant. I guess this is what its meant by "dark humor." Despite the topic, I was really impressed with the way the author created the world, and how she planted doubts in me pertaining to Cordelia. Its a bit of a mystery except its a mystery that isn't solved. Some stuff in the book, namely Wendice hit way too close for comfort and its unfortunate that I used to know someone like him. I do hope that this book will educate today's modern youth that anti-Judaism was alive and well even before the Holocaust and WWII.

Forty years’ accumulation of art, antiques, and family photographs are more than just objects for Stanley Peke—they are proof of a life fully lived. A life he could have easily lost long ago.

When a con man steals his houseful of possessions in a sophisticated moving-day scam, Peke wanders helplessly through his empty New England home, inevitably reminded of another helpless time: decades in Peke’s past, a cold and threadbare Stanislaw Shmuel Pecoskowitz eked out a desperate existence in the war-torn Polish countryside, subsisting on scraps and dodging Nazi soldiers. Now, the seventy-two-year-old Peke—who survived, came to America, and succeeded—must summon his original grit and determination to track down the thieves, retrieve his things, and restore the life he made for himself.

Peke and his wife, Rose, trace the path of the thieves’ truck across America, to the wilds of Montana, and to an ultimate, chilling confrontation with not only the thieves but also with Peke’s brutal, unresolved past.

Characters:

I have a hard time describing the characters, but will do my best: Stanley Peke is a Holocaust survivor and is Jewish, although he doesn't care much about his religion. Simply put, he is determined to get his stuff back, or is determined to make life for him come full circle. His wife, Rose, seems to paradoxically know him and not know him, (yes, that's on purpose...) at least I couldn't understand if she knew him. Nick is a thief who also had a difficult life and childhood.

Theme:

It really made me pay attention to my writing, and how different it is from the author's. I do wonder why my writing isn't as frustrating as the author's, and the conclusion I came upon is that I'm not a repeat-a-holic.

Plot:

The book is written in third person narrative mostly from Nick's and Peke's points of view, although Peke's wife and few others also make their appearances. At first I thought the point of view alternated with every chapter, that is 1st, 3rd, 5th are from Peke's, while 2nd, 4th, 6th, etc are from Nick's. But then the point of view switched without a warning and repetition ensued. If you can ignore the writing style, then the story becomes interesting, but since I wasn't able to, the story wasn't as good.

Author Information:
(From TLC)

Purchase Links

About Jonathan Stone

Jonathan Stone writes his books on the commuter train from his home in Connecticut to his advertising job in midtown Manhattan. Honing his writing skills by creating smart and classic campaigns for high-level brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, and Mitsubishi has paid off, as Stone’s first mystery-thriller series, the Julian Palmer books, won critical acclaim and was hailed as “stunning” and “risk-taking” in Publishers Weekly starred reviews. He earned glowing praise for his novel The Cold Truth from the New York Times, which called it “bone-chilling.” He’s the recipient of a Claymore Award for Best Unpublished Crime Novel and a graduate of Yale, where he was a Scholar of the House in fiction writing.

Opinion:

I'm sorry but no, I didn't like this book. I admit that it has some promise and the story is intriguing, but the writing style is a huge reason why I didn't like the book. I admit that when I write stories, I have a similar writing style, but I tend to repeat things once or twice and its not even per paragraph. The author repeats the same thing over and over per sentence and per paragraph. I will give sample paragraphs from the book, thus imagine seeing repetition over and over until you're done with the book.

"So she is consigned, for the moment, to the role of the waiting wife. Her husband is in the middle of a project. Not repairing a toilet, or a window shade, or a garage-door opener, but trying to repair their life. It's a dangerous project-dangerous in direct proportion to the degree he tries to pretend otherwise. After fifty years of marriage, she knows his techniques, and she knows at least that." (112)

"The loss of their things. Yes, she is shocked. She will always be shocked by it, in some sense. But her relative silence about the event is not from that. It is from an inherent paradox that she finds difficult to digest. On the face of it, it's not a paradox; it's reasonable: while she knows and genuinely believes that it all means nothing-all this stuff- she nevertheless wants it all back. Of course. That's fine. But then it immediately deepens for her, into a paradox both of existence and of feeling, that hangs over her, ceaselessly, at every moment." (113)

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About Me

I like to read all sorts of books, minus horror and hardcore sci-fi and to an extent I might read romance (no cookie cutter romance novels though,) I enjoy reading multiracial stories (With white female and Asian male in particular,) I also will not read christian fiction/non fiction text.
I dabbled with all sorts of genres and read lots of novels (horror, classical, fantasy, children's, romance, etc) Currently I am enjoying historical/ pre- historical fiction novels.
I also tend to be critical and am honest if I don't like a book.
Also, if you are interested in sending me a book to review, please send an email to svet_chick@yahoo.ca, or else make a comment.